This invention relates to educational aids and methods therefor and particularly to an apparatus that presents concepts in sections that proceed from simple to more advanced in a gradational fashion.
Instructional aids have been used previously for educational purposes; however, they have had several disadvantages. U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,473 to Shea discloses a language instruction and fact recognition apparatus. The apparatus provides a plurality of master charts with words thereon, a plurality of study cards with words thereon, a complicated reference system for matching the right cards to the right master charts, and two separate apparatuses for maintaining the cards and the master charts. However, storing and transporting the master charts and the cards can become cumbersome in addition to the loss of the cards.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,486,111 and 5,275,569, both issued to Watkins, disclose a language translation teaching aid that presents a first sentence, a second sentence in a second language with a word-for-word translation, and a third sentence in the second language with an accurate translation of the first sentence according to the normal rules of syntax and grammar of the second language. However, the number of phrases that can be presented limits Watkins and most often the phrases that are presented are not useful to the person learning the language because they may apply to impractical phrases.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,713,739 to Yu discloses a learning aid for use in language education. The invention includes a foldable structure that receives a plurality of inserts. A first set of inserts present the target language, a second set of inserts present the known language, and a third set of inserts present the transition between the known language and the target language. Yu is limited to only teaching foreign languages based on a known language and the plurality of inserts may become misplaced or lost and the coordination of corresponding inserts is time consuming and cumbersome.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,934,708 to Batjuk discloses a dictionary of an alphabetic foreign language in which a word is defined in a known language, but a plurality of other words having an identical sequence of letters of the original foreign language word are grouped therewith. However, Batjuk requires the use of additional space on the paper to arrange corresponding words thereon that may be related in sequence but unrelated in meaning and will increase the size of the book and deplete resources unnecessarily. The fragmented presentation of unrelated words does not provide a logical reasoning for increased learning of the user.
The prior art does not address the need for an apparatus that provides a graduated teaching tool that allows the user to learn and build on a simple concept in a graduated fashion. Therefore, there remains a long standing and continuing need for an advance in the art of teaching aids and educational methods that is simpler in both design and use, is more economical, efficient in its construction and use, and eliminates the need for a plurality of corresponding cards that may be misplaced or lost.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.
In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a teaching aid that reduces the number of disassociated members and reduces the risk of loss thereof.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an educational aid that provides the reader a gradual expansion and complexity of several concepts.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an educational aid that extends the life thereof by allowing the same educational aid to be used as the reader develops their reading ability and vocabulary.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an educational aid that allows the presenter to present the concepts in a gradually developing complex fashion.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an educational aid that allows collaboration between a less complex presenter and a more complex presenter that expands on the less complex concepts.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an educational aid that allows a reader to comprehend an alternate style of writing such as an Elizabethan style.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an educational aid that is less costly to manufacture and produce.
In keeping with the principles of the present invention, a unique educational aid that has at least a surface, and can have a plurality of surfaces such as pages in a book, wherein the surface is separated into at least two sections. At least a first concept is presented in the first section and is expanded upon in a second section in a more complex fashion.
The concepts that are presented may be linguistic, mathematical, or artistic in nature and each section provides a more complex presentation than the previous section. In maintaining the successively complex concepts on the same page, the reader is able to simultaneously view the previous simple concept and build thereupon to develop a better apprehension of the more complex concepts. Furthermore, the book or other medium that the concepts are presented upon may be reused as the reader develops a broader understanding of the concepts.